


Horizon

by Pipedream



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst & Comfort, M/M, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 20:48:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7656118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pipedream/pseuds/Pipedream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brooks offers some words of advice to a man who has lost everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Horizon

The shop was quiet. As it always had been. Being the only trader with a shop full of goods had its perks, having said shop in a dead zone where only a trickle of new people made their way here, made things slow. Brooks welcomed all who took the time to shop at his small shop. He shared the space with the local doctor who held his office behind him. When a customer needed mending he would offer a sympathetic glance and hold his tongue. It was not in his place to attempt to sell supplies to a person who needed urgent care with radiation poisoning. The man was good at his job and did it well at the right timing. He was able to make a meager earning doing this. Brooks also was tasked at welcoming any who appeared lost. This job he kept a secret to protect his clients and his employer. He also felt it better to leave this work under wraps as his humanity was also at risk. It would do no good to his neighbors in the dock to know that Brooks was a synth. 

A being that most of the inhabitants of Far Harbor had no familiarity with, but for its longer residents was held in a passive scorn. He sighed and did his best to focus at the task at hand of weighing the catch of the day. A failed mission had left him bitter. A fellow synth, a fellow man had panicked and ran into the fog only for him to meet a gruesome faith. His death painful and slow Brooks assumed, lost to cannibal trappers. He shivered and focused on the next fish. A groan could be heard from the back. Doctor Teddy could be heard administering a few stimpaks and helping the current patient get up.

"How are you feeling now Andre?"  
"Better. Thank you."  
"You are lucky to be alive Andre. An outsider thankfully stopped by yesterday to provide your aid." Andre had been lucky. The whole town had been lucky to get much needed support, even from an outsider. Brooks glanced at the patient behind him. He was familiar with Andre and his tragedy. The man had recently lost his husband to some hunters, nearly losing his own life and barely making it in time to be carried into Teddy's office. Tragedy was commonplace on the island, what can be described as a miracle was not. Brooks watched as Andre was helped to stand again, his face pale from his close encounter with death and his eyes dark. The shop keeper went back to work. No, it was not in his place to meddle with Teddy's patients.

"Hey Brooks. You wouldn't happen to still carry some cans of purified water? It seems I've ran out."  
Brooks looked up from his weighing and met with Teddy. He looked exhausted and in dire need of a break.  
"Yeah sure. Here's a few." He said as he dug out some cans from under the counter.  
"Phew. Thanks. I'll pay ya back."  
"No need. Just be sure to give yourself a break and get yourself a Vim, doctor. You look...no offense but crap."  
Teddy laughed lightly and thanked him. Brooks watched as he went back and handed the cans to Andre. Immediately, the man took them and gulped them down.  
"Wow. Easy there. Don't wanna accidentally drown yourself." Teddy said. He looked towards Brooks and smiled lightly, going over to meet with him again.  
"Watch over him for me, I think I'm going to go ahead and treat myself to dinner at the inn." He winked. Brooks nodded and looked around for potential customers, when he saw fit that none would come by anytime soon he made his way to the back.  
"Hey Brooks." Andre had sat himself back down on the patient bed, his lips still chapped but no longer at risk for dehydration.  
"I'm going to need to buy some rations from you soon."  
"Don't mind me asking but what for?" Brooks raised an eyebrow. It was too soon for this man to think about rations. He needed rest and an actual meal, not travel feed.  
"I need to kill them." Andre responded coldly.  
"They all need to die Brooks. For what those bastards did to John!"  
"With what guns Andre? With what body? You are not in a state to run and kill." Brooks mused.

"I'll buy all of Allen's guns and kill them Brooks! Do not stop me!"  
"And if you die? What would John think if you died?"  
"I'm leaving in the morning! And if you do not agree I will just go without provisions!" He spat.  
Brooks sighed and walked to his chair, turning it to face Andre.  
"Revenge is only temporary Andre. You can't just throw the life that has been spared away so easily." He felt remorse, remembering the man he had accidentally sent to his death.

"You sound like a man who just committed a mistake."  
"Maybe I have in the past and it lead to death." Brooks said.  
"I led him to his death. And it is up to me to avenge him." He countered.  
Brooks crossed his hands and breathed in heavily. Far Harbor was always in a flux of deaths, it was a surprise that town was still standing.  
"It is your decision in the end Andre on how you'd like to spend the rest of your days. But there are many reasons to be alive still even after all this."  
They both stood quiet only because Teddy had came back with Vim bottles.  
"I know you are recovering Andre but I brought something for you and here is a bottle for you as well Brooks." He said passing the beverage to the shopkeeper. The drinks shutting everyone of their skeletons.

The morning came and Brooks was back at his post, weighing the sunrise catch. He contemplated the previous day's conversation and glanced back at an empty bed. _So he really did leave._  
Brooks felt sadness, he couldn't save another life. He hoped in his heart that Andre was well, wherever he was. Just as he was weighing a heavy catch he heard a large thunk hit his counter. A massive eel stared at him in the face, enough to cause him to jump lightly.  
"That is hilarious. I didn't mean to frighten you." He laughed and Brooks could hear a soft chuckle from the back. Andre was back in town, he hadn't left. Brooks felt relieved and also annoyed at the sudden scare.

"Hey let us go fishing. What do you say?" Andre smiled lightly.  
"I..I have a post here. Can't leave, nope!"  
"He'd be glad to! Come on Brooks! You never give yourself a break either." Teddy added from behind him.  
"I'll watch the store, you guys go have fun!" He chirped. Andre laughed once more as Brooks got up begrudgingly from his seat. He stretched and followed him back to the docks. Already two poles were waiting for them. _Oh, Shit._  
"Sit! Sit! Before something bites on our lines."  
"Listen uh..Andre." Brooks responded flustered.  
"I don't know how to say this but-"  
"You don't want to." Andre said, a tinge of disappointment on his voice.  
"No! No! I do! But...just never have before."  
"Wait...but you weigh fish?!"  
"Weigh them but never caught them." Brooks said embarrassed at finally admitting his dilemma. 

"I question friend, how you survived then." He teased as he handed Brooks a pole.  
"It's simple really. You'll catch on quick. Here, I'll teach you."  
They spend the whole afternoon fishing, Andre having amazing luck with large catches as Brooks struggles to hold his line. Finally he felt a tug and began to pull.  
"Oh shit Andre! I think this guy is a big one." Brooks exclaims as the line began to buckle.  
"Keep reeling it in, man! Don't let it get away!"  
After a bit of struggling the catch breaks through the water. A mirelurk hatchling. Immediately Brooks felt Andre shift in breathing and his body grow tense. He had been hunting mirelurks when the attack happened. In minutes Brooks brought the beast out, gave it a few whacks in the head with the machete they used to gut the fish and threw the carcass as far as he could. 

"Good riddance. They can serve as a meal for someone else." He yelled as the splash ended. Laughter. He heard laughter as he turned around and saw the man almost break into tears.  
"I'm sorry Brooks. Really. Thank you so much."  
"Hey it's alright. Time heals I've heard." He reminded himself.  
"Of course. Let's do this again sometime."  
"Yeah. I think I'm getting the hang of it." Brooks smirked as the other man began collecting his fish. He turned to gaze at the coming tide, wondering what kind of creature ate that dead hatchling.  
"I think this earns for some fine cooking. Let's get Teddy to join us." Andre said.  
"His probably eating all my snacks and getting some rad poisoning." He heard the man snort and then felt a hand being offered to him. Brooks took it and got up, slowly realizing his hand had fish guts. Feigning disgust he rubs the slime off of the other mans shoulder, earning a playful shove.  
"Let's get going. I don't want this fish to start stinking now." He winked. Brooks could feel his heart skip for only a moment.


End file.
